HuskerGirlKC is leading the charge as she and volunteers, some of whom never been to Oakland, try to reconstruct the downtown area in 10 days. If you played the game, you know how hard this can be. It’s a lot of work, but the results can be amazing. The completed project will be shown at the Oakland Museum of California on April 26, 27 and 28. What’s crazy is that some builders are using Google Street View to help get a sense of the facades and layout of downtown.

Check out the work here or here. You can also look at some choice shots on the jump.

”Rent” finally came due on Broadway over the weekend. The iconic Gen-X musical closed on the Great White Way after 12 years and 5,124 performances. The first rock musical to bring the slacker set to the theater in droves, ”Rent” updated Puccini’s ”La Boheme” for the ’90s. Here Mimi is a stripper, Rodolfo becomes wannabe rock star Roger. They’re East Village bohemians struggling to find love and make the rent in the age of AIDS. The Pulitzer Prize winner was almost as famed for its backstory as for its showtunes. The tuner’s creator Jonathan Larson died of an aneurism after the show’s final dress rehearsal back in 1996. He was 35. Like the characters in his musical, he longed for fame and immortality but died before he knew he had both in his grasp.

I’m at Bowzer’s Pizza in downtown Berkeley. They have two games of Madden NFL going. The crowd is raucous as fans wait for the game to come out.

There are 14 players in the tournament. To speed things along, the GameStop employees customized the games with two-minute quarters. Everyone is playing for $15 gift certificates that are awarded to the first- and second-place finishers.

But as it gets closer to midnight, I don’t know how much longer people will want to wait.

That was our initial reaction on hearing a report of a Cheech and Chong reunion. The idea seemed as plausible as Paul and Ringo teaming up with holographic stand-ins for John and George on a tour-ific jaunt down memory lane with the former Beatles.

But faster than you can fire up a comedy crowd’s imagination, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have indeed settled their differences. They will hit the road and perform in San Jose on Nov. 30.Â (More details to come.) On Wednesday, the pair will discuss the reunion at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, the club where their joint venture caught on in the early ’70s.

I was surprised to hear the news because when Chong spoke to me inÂ 2005, he said Marin had rejected the idea of a reunion. “He considers himself an actor,” Chong said, “someone above the comedy. He wouldn’t do the characters and he won’t grow his mustache back.”Â

It’s hard not to cut Jimmy Fallon some slack — and not just because he plays the loveÂable bloke so well in his hoodie and Pumas.

The former “Saturday Night Live” star, the recently anointed replacement for CoÂnan O’Brien on “Late Night” in ’09, knows that part of his new job will require he perÂform monologues. No amount of
“Weekend Update” appearÂances or movies co-starring Queen Latifah or Drew BarryÂmore can prep him for workÂing an audience every week night.

In taking the stage far away from the scrutinizing eyes of New York City or Los Angeles audiences at the San Jose ImÂprov on Thursday, Fallon, 33, continues to season himself for his future hosting duties. (He also made a little-publiÂcized Improv appearance opening for Owen Benjamin in February 2008.) The sketch comedy veteran’s mixed, spoÂradically funny set was the first in a four-night run filling the middle slot between comÂics Wayne Federman and Mo Mandel.

Opening with his guitar in hand, Fallon’s stand-up rouÂtine hasn’t moved far beyond the ragamuffin troubadour persona that has paid him divÂidends on everything from his 2002 comedy disc “”The BathÂroom Wall” to his hosting of the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. He opened his 25-minute set with “Car Wash for Peace” and closed it with a couple of other satirical ditÂties, leaving little room for performing actually stand-up material.

Aside from his general likÂability, Fallon’s strength has always been his ability to lamÂpoon pop culture, such as a bit about “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” host Ty PenÂnington or his somewhat
shameful admission of his love for Disney’s “High School Musical.” He called into quesÂtion the teen phenomenon’s authenticity because it depicts a school where “everyone’s singing and dancing and no one’s getting their asses kicked.”

Fallon returned to the stage for another 10 minutes at the close of the show, playfully riffÂing with a piano-playing FedÂerman. The highlight of his set, and the entire evening, was his convincing demonÂstration of how seemingly evÂery silly ’80s pop hit — from “The Safety Dance,” by Men
Without Hats, to “”Never Gonna Give You Up,” by Rick Astley — can be sung over “U Can’t Touch This,” by MC Hammer. As amusing as it was to get Rick-rolled, it came off as little more than a party gag.

The TV-host-in-training still needs to hone his stand-up skills, but he at least has a defÂinite persona that should lend itself to fronting a talk show. Everyone from David LetterÂman to Jay Leno initially struggled when they landed their own gabfests. When O’Brien replaced LetÂterman on “Late Night” in 1993, his claim to fame was that he had worked as the exÂecutive producer of “The
Simpsons.” Perhaps Fallon can take heart in the knowlÂedge that like O’Brien, he also cut his performance teeth as a member of the Groundlings, the Los Angeles-based ImÂprov troupe.

Fallon performs with Federman and Mandel at 8 and 10 p.m. tonight, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, and 7 p.m. June 22 at the Improv, 62 S. Second St., San Jose; $25; (408) 280-7475, www.improv.com.

[photopress:Antartica_DJ_Spooky.jpg,thumb,alignright]Paul D. Miller, the rhythm alchemist also known as DJ Spooky, was among the major attractions at SubZero, Friday’s 01SJ block party along First Avenue in San Jose.

But Miller wasn’t delivering the much anticipated multimedia performance of “Terra Nova: The Antarctic Suite.” His piece based on his visit to Antarctica isÂ at 6 and 8 p.m.Â tomorrow at the Imax Theater at the Tech Museum of Innovation.Miller was at Anno Domini gallery to talk about his new book, “Sound Unbound” (MIT Press, 2008).

The collection of 36 essays on the role of sound and digital media in the creative process nicely reflects how DJ Spooky is into such a broad mix of disparate subjects. The likes of Brian Eno, Chuck D and Steve Reich contributed to the book.

To learn more about “Sound Unbound” or Miller’s other 01SJ appearances, go to www.djspooky.com and 01sj.org.

Dudes, how did I miss this? The blogosphere is apparently alight with gossip that Carrie Fisher may have hooked up with Harrison Ford while filming “Star Wars” back in the day. New York Post’s Page Six gossip column has apparently reported that Fisher has hinted around about some serious intergalactic snuggle bunnies.

“I had a crush on Harrison for sure. Harrison is great fun when he’s had a few drinks…” Laughing and smiling, Fisher added, “I’m going to get in so much trouble … Once I left the room and came back and he was in the closet not wearing a lot of clothes.”

Oh, no she didn’t! I am obviously going to have hit Princess Leia up for details when she comes to town with her hit solo “Wishful Drinking.”

[photopress:russmeneve.jpg,thumb,alignright]It’s not hard to overlook some of the cooler programming at the San Jose Improv: If you spend most of your time wondering if they’ve booked a Russell Peters or Gabriel Iglesias for the weekend, you might miss a one-night stand by a Doug Benson or Dana Carvey.

Russ Meneve is the latest quick-stop comic to pull into the Improv in the middle of the week. But don’t think that this is a typical booking.

The New Jersey native is theÂ danglingÂ comedic carrot in a benefit performance for Cops Care Cancer, a non-profit foundation that provides financial assistance to children with cancer. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is among the beneficiaries of the organization.

For those who like undressing video game boxes to see what’s underneath all that plastic and cardboard. Here it is video game porn for all those fanboys out there. This is what you get with the Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition. I picked up the Xbox 360 version. Very nice.

I swear ever since I started this gig I’ve been waiting in lines. There was the epic PlayStation 3 line. Then there was the Wii one. Six months later, I’m in line for an iPhone. Last night, I was in another one in downtown Berkeley. I was one of the folks waiting to get his or her copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.

As for as midnight launches go, it was pretty quiet. The crowd was mostly adults. All of them were much older than 18 and we just hung out and smoked cigarettes. Of course, confused people asked what we were standing in line for. We told them.

Someone apparently ordered a pizza, and when the driver came by, he was looking for the person who dialed. No one stepped up. He offered the pizza for half-price. Unfortunately for all of us, we were broke. We just spent our money on GTAIV.

The night was pretty eventful. The good folks at the downtown Berkeley Gamestop had a raffle, gave away posters and stickers. I missed the big giveaway earlier in the night. Some Rockstar representatives hung out and gave away T-shirts and other swag.

As midnight drew closer, there seemed to be more and more people dropping in. By 11:36, there was more than 50 people, freezing out here in the middle of April. When the employees finally let us in, it was joy to get out of the cold, get the game and drive home.

Right now, I’m content and so far I’m liking the game. It takes some getting used to. There’s a lot of detail in the world. Driving is totally different. There’s more weight to the cars if that makes sense. Moving around there’s a distinct momentum. Anyway, back to playing. Unboxing shoots soon to follow.